Revision as of 20:25, 6 January 2017

Geeta Phogat, at the Guru Shyam Lal Akhada in New Delhi, shortly after her 2016 wedding
Deepak Ansuia Prasad Bhardwaj, India.com

Pawan Kumar, then 23, and Geeta Phogat, then 28, at the Guru Shyam Lal Akhada in New Delhi,shortly after their 2016 wedding
Deepak Ansuia Prasad Bhardwaj, India.com

The essential facts

Torsha Banerjee | All you need to know about Geeta Phogat, December 23, 2016, Femina

Geeta won India’s first-ever Gold medal in wrestling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

At the CWG, she had competed in the 55 kg freestyle category.

Geeta is the first Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for the Olympics (in 2012).

She hails from Haryana, where her father Mahavir Singh Phogat fought against all odds to bring up his daughters as successful wrestlers.

Geeta’s sister Babita Kumari won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships, and gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Geeta got married to Delhi-based wrestler Pawan Kumar on November 20, 2016, in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri.

The wedding was attended by actor Aamir Khan, who plays the role of Mahavir Phogat in Dangal. Several prominent wrestlers including Olympians Sushil Kumar and Sakhshi Malik attended the wedding too.

Akhada: The Authorized Biography of Mahavir Singh Phogat, a new book on the Phogats says it was Geeta’s mother Daya Kaur who was more upset about a girl child as her firstborn.

In the book, Mahavir Phogat says he introduced his daughters to wrestling with the aim of winning big at the Olympics and now he has his eyes set on 2020.

Dec 2016: A star-studded wedding

Abhimanyu Mathur | TNN | Starry shaadi for wrestlers Geeta Phogat and Pawan Kumar Dec 26, 2016 toi

Vinesh, Ritu and Babita Phogat, Geeta's wrestler sisters (L to R) at her 2016 wedding (photo Ajay Gautam, BCCL)

Mahavir Singh Phogat, Aamir Khan, Geeta Phogat and Sakshi Tanwar (L-R) (photo Ajay Gautam, BCCL)

On Sunday, the quaint town of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana was witness to Geeta Phogat - oldest of the Phogat sisters famous for wrestling - geting married to Delhi-based wrestler Pawan Kumar.

The wedding was attended by several prominent wrestlers, politicians and over 5,000 residents from Bhiwani. The biggest guest of the day was actor Aamir Khan,who reached the Phogat residence in Balali village a few hours before the wedding, dressed in a white kurta-pyjama with a red turban and black Nehru jacket. Pointing to his pagdi, he quipped, "Pakka Haryanvi lag raha hoon na iske saath?" A sizable crowd had gathered to watch Aamir and there was quite a lot of commotion and pushing around outside the Phogat house.

Over 150 policemen from Bhiwani had been called to provide security, apart from over 50 private security guards and bouncers. "I have never seen such a crowd in my village. Itne dhakke toh kabhi Balali se Delhi ki bus mein nahi khaaye," said Geeta's sister Babita. Actors Sakshi Tanwar and Sanya Malhotra had accompanied Aamir. The actors had lunch with the Phogat family but did not stay back for the wedding in the evening, which was attended by the who-is-who of Haryana's sporting and political worlds.

Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik attended as a friend of the bride, while Sushil Kumar - who was once the groom's roommate at an academy - was a part of the baraat. Both Sakshi and Sushil were mobbed at the wedding with everyone trying to get a selfie with the two wrestlers.

Bouncers for wrestlers

While Sakshi chose to spend her time on the stage with the couple to avoid the selfie-seekers, Sushil had to be escorted around by the bouncers throughout the night. "Arre bhai, yeh bhi nahi pata chal raha hi sajaawat kaisi hai. Yeh log hatein toh kuch dikhe," he was heard saying.

Also in attendance were Commonwealth silver medallist Pooja Dhanda, paralympian Som Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP Ranbir Singh Gangwa, Haryana Assembly's opposition leader Abhay Singh Chautala and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, president of the Wrestling Federation of India. Managing so many high-profile guests was not easy for the hosts. Rahul, Geeta's brother, said, "Sab ko sab se hi milna hai aur photo leni hai. Ab kis kis ko rokein aur kaise, woh samajh nahi aata."

No naachna

The Phogat sisters were all smiles and dressed in traditional outfits. Vinesh, however, had one complaint. The wrestler had injured her right foot during the Olympics and has been in rehabilitation since. She said, "Dance bhi nahi kiya sangeet mein kyunki sab kehte thay pair ka dhyaan rakho. Koi kuch kaam bhi nahi karne de raha. Mujhe kaam karne ke liye assistants de rakhe hain."

Pure white

Mahabir Phogat, Geeta's father, proudly said that the wedding had brought the biggest names in Haryana to Charkhi Dadri. But did demonetisation affect the wedding preparations? "Woh pareshani unko hogi jinka kaala dhan hai. Hum toh pure white hain," he replied with a smile.

No honeymoon plans

The newly-weds said that they would resume practice within two days as they had to prepare for the wrestling league beginning in December. Geeta said, "I just have a two-day break. I'll be back to practicing on the mat from Wednesday. Do din se choodiyan pehni thi toh practice nahi kar payi. Par next month se league start hai toh koi break nahi le sakte."

See also

Phogat, family of wrestlers

Mahavir Singh Phogat

Geeta Phogat

Babita Phogat

Vinesh Phogat